What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[Theodric]

Personally I draw a distinct line between a 'villain' and an 'antagonist'. To me, a villain is a character with little to no sympathetic qualities and no real goal in mind. As it happens, they usually have loftier stakes and more to lose because they don't have the same tiresome plot armour that the self proclaimed heroes of the story are clad in or an instant victory button to press whenever the story decides that they need to win through some contrived method. I've also played many games where a character such as Emet-Selch would be the protagonist of a story rather than the antagonist.

Furthermore, I also don't think there's anything wrong with people agreeing with either Venat or Emet at the end of the day. It's just a fictional story that isn't real and is by no means a reflection of what someone may believe or root for in the real world. That we're dealing with fiction is in itself a good reason for things to not just follow the same bland trajectory where everything is 'safe' and 'predictable'. Modern day real world morals that double as broken aesops have no business being present at all as far as I'm concerned. Though they're unfortunately something that sells and so we're stuck with the problems that have been brought to light with the story throughout this very thread.

As much as some people like to police who likes what in pretty much any fandom, I can't say it's ever been something I've been interested in doing myself. Which just makes Yoshi-P's comments all the more jarring. That he is in charge of the game does not equal being in charge of what players feel and think.

Speaking of which, there's a lot of irony in the famous 'hear, feel, think' since anyone who does is actually told to shut up because it exposes how little thought was put into telling a consistent story...

At this point I just hope at least some of the damage is mitigated retroactively.

FFVIIR is my favourite main title on the basis of actually having fan service that isn't completely one sided, where the 'bad guys' lose absolutely everything and are the only ones other than throwaway characters who are set to suffer meaningful losses.